Posted by I have been talking about similarities and differences between Ikigai Diet and Whole food plant based diet in the last few weeks. In the last post, I said that Ikigai Diet was a diet for happiness, while Whole food plant based diet was a diet for health. By eating organic and natural food, whole food, fermented food, MA GO WAS YA SA SHI I, and by bringing hygge into your diet, you will be happier because it is based on Japanese natural medicine and these dietary practices will integrate your mental and physical health.
Today I would like to go further on this topic.
What is happiness for you?
What makes you become happy?
When I say happy, I’m not talking about a temporary state of mind. I was happy last week when the Japanese soccer team won in their first World Cup match, but I’m not talking about that kind of feeling. Even hygge doesn’t count. However cozy and comfortable you get, it doesn’t mean you are happy.
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I am talking about an everlasting state of being fulfilled, loved, motivated, calm but energetic.
Another word, kind of enlightened. I said kind of, because you will never be enlightened. Well, maybe some of you will, but for most of us that is too big a goal, for now, we can just aim to be close to it.
I am the author of Zen and a Way of Sustainable Prosperity, and the ultimate goal of this philosophy is to be enlightened, but in a materialistic sense. To be free and happy both in personal and social level. You will lead a happy, sustainable and holistic life while transforming society to be the same.
Ikigai Diet is a diet to help you achieve that goal. It will help you find your mission in your life, or it will remind you of that mission if you have forgotten it.
It will also give you enough energy to work on your goal.
It will also give you the right mindset to stay focused on your mission.
Another word, Ikigai Diet is a spiritual diet.
It helps you grow spiritually and helps you become kind of enlightened-haha.
That is another difference between Ikigai Diet and Whole food plant based diet.
Okay, I understand. While Whole food plant based diet is focusing on improving our health, Ikigai Diet is helping our spiritual growth as well. How does it work then? How eating fermented food and chewing a lot will help us grow spiritually?
Well, remember, Ikigai Diet is based on Japanese natural philosophies where Zen, macrobiotics, Aikido, Shiatsu are all based on, and Japanese natural philosophies are influenced by such spiritual practices as Taoism, Buddhism, and Shintoism. It contains a lot of spiritual essence.
One example is that we value intestines in Ikigai Diet. Intestines are regarded as the second brain in Japan, but among Japanese spiritualists, it is regarded as the first brain or the gateway to your expanded consciousness.
By working on your intestines and living with the right kind of bacteria, it will shift your consciousness.
To sum up my points, the similarities between Ikigai Diet and Whole food plant based diet are that they both focus on your health and eat whole food: They both eat a lot of vegetables, tubers, grains, and legumes: They are not as strict as a vegetarian or vegan diet but they minimize meat and dairy products.
The differences are that Ikigai Diet works toward social transformation as well by encouraging us to eat organically grown food, naturally grown food, and locally grown food to support sustainable farming culture: It is based on Japanese natural philosophies so that it has elements to help us become happy and grow spiritually: It stresses the importance of fermented food to work on our intestines.
Omi-merchant's way of Sustainable Prosperity 